


Pearl of my Heart

by Ghostinthehouse



Category: Emelan - Tamora Pierce, PIERCE Tamora - Works
Genre: F/F, Misses Clause Challenge, Trans Female Character
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-11-14
Updated: 2018-11-14
Packaged: 2019-08-23 14:34:45
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 6
Words: 1,960
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/16620857
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Ghostinthehouse/pseuds/Ghostinthehouse
Summary: 5 times Daja's family took the measure of her new love, and 1 time Daja made her own assessment





	1. Jory

**Author's Note:**

  * For [AlexSeanchai (EllieMurasaki)](https://archiveofourown.org/users/EllieMurasaki/gifts).



 

"Excuse me, I'm looking for the mage Daja Kisubo. Jorality Bancanor asked me to deliver a letter to her."

Daja set her hammer down and looked up at the tall slender woman in the doorway of her smithy. The woman had green-gold eyes above a thin blade of a nose, straight black hair, and skin as golden-brown as Briar. "I'm Daja Kisubo." She took the packet the woman held out. There were three thick envelopes and a covering page. "Thank you. Would you like to come in for a moment? It's a long hot walk down here in this weather."

"Thank you, I would appreciate that." The woman's eyes sparkled, like sunlight coming through trees. "My name is Pearl. Jory told me a great deal about you."

Daja caught up her staff and led the way to the kitchen, mildly surprised to find that Pearl matched her inch for inch in height. Warmth tingled where their shoulders and fingers had brushed in passing. "I don't know if that's good or bad," she remarked mildly. Inside, she served iced tea from the coolbox and opened the covering note.

>  
> 
> Daja!
> 
> I met another cook-mage! Her name's Pearl Shellcracker, and she's already an accredited mage. She specialises in designing meals for people who can't eat certain things, but she can cook almost _anything._ She's traveling around studying with other cook-mages, which is how I met her. She came to Olennika's to work with her for a while.
> 
> Did you know that some people get sick from foods that are fine for everyone else? Or even die from it? And because it isn't a poison, Olennika's famous poison-telling plates don't show it up, so they traded ways of making plates that would show problem foods - poison versus allergy. I learned about it, but I'm not quite ready to spell my own set of plates. Maybe once I have my medal (soon, I hope!).
> 
> She told me she was going to Summersea to study under a mage called Gorse, so I told her all about you and asked her to carry letters there for us (Nia and me, and our parents).
> 
> Jory

 

Daja set the actual letters aside to read later. Frostpine would probably like to see them too. "So you're studying with Gorse?"

"That's right."

A thought struck Daja, but she reached out to the others before she acted on it. _Is it all right if I invite her to stay? She comes with a recommendation from Jory - one of my students from Kugisko._

_Daj',_ Briar responded, _you're just as entitled to bring home pretty girls as I am! Go ahead._

Tris answered faintly from Lightsbridge, _Just keep her out of my room._

A brush of wordless approval came from Sandry, and then cut off as she refocused on the meeting she was having.

Daja's cheeks heated at Briar's remark, but she couldn't deny that Pearl _was_ beautiful. And not a bit like Rizu. "Do you have somewhere to stay?" she asked. "The temple only lets Dedicates and children stay there. But there's room here if you need it. The Bancanors let Frostpine and I stay with them, and it's only right I return that."

Pearl sipped her tea and considered. "That might simplify matters. Did Jory tell you I'm both _nisamohi_ and _nisarin?_ " she asked, using the Trader words for a woman who loved other women, and a woman who had had to declare her gender later in life rather than having it correctly declared for her at birth. "Or did she leave it for me to do?"

"She was too busy enthusing over your skills to reveal much else."

"Ah. And does that affect the offer?" There was a wariness in Pearl's face, tightened over a core of steel.

"Not at all."

"Then I accept."

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> 'nisamohi' (woman-loving woman) is canon, 'nisarin' (trans woman) is my own invention.


	2. Briar

_ Pearl's bringing your tea out,  _ Daja warned,  _ since you didn't want to come for it. _

Briar grunted an acknowledgement, busy winding a loose spiral of wire round the branch he was reshaping. The warning gave him time to look up without being startled by a stranger, let him hide that weakness.

When he did pause, he saw that the tall woman had stopped in the doorway, waiting patiently with his mug in her hand and a look of interest in her eyes. He pointed to a clear patch of bench. She picked her way to it and he was surprised to hear his crab-apple crooning a welcome. It didn't usually react that way to anyone but another green mage.

"Do you think it knows how much I like making crab-apple jelly?" Pearl asked, setting his tea down with a small smile.

"Just because it's a tree, don't mean it's bleat-brained."

The smile curled a little wider, and she turned curious eyes on the larch he was working with. "Why the wire?"

"Sometimes a  _ shakkan _ gets trained into the wrong shape by folk what think they know better than the tree does. Most of those  _ shakkan _ know what shape they want to be, but they need a bit of help and support to get there." Briar straightened and reached for his tea. "Bit like you, maybe. What is it you do again?"

"I design meals for people with allergies."

"Sneezes at haying and wheezes near roses? What's that got to do with meals?"

"Some people are allergic to certain foods." There was a gleam in Pearl's eye that reminded Briar of Sandry getting enthusiastic about - well, anything. "Sometimes it shows up as swelling when the food hits the mouth."

"I got a good oil for that," Briar butted in.

"Oh? Does it work for reactions that come after you've swallowed it? Some people don't react until it hits their guts." She paused, thinking for a moment. "Ever eaten bad meat?"

"Yes." Briar's belly cramped at the memory, and he slurped tea to cover it.

"Imagine your gut reacts that way every time you eat bread. Or drink milk. Even if the food itself is good."

"Ouch."

"Quite. Now if you have something that would take the ouch out after they eat it by accident, I'd love to see it or get the recipe."

Briar fished the vial out of his mage kit, his mind darting after the problem Pearl had laid before him. "You, me, and Rosethorn ought to get to together over this. Us two brewed medicine for allergies before, but it was sneezes, wheezes, and itches. Surface stuff. This is deeper."

"I'd like that, if you don't mind me hanging around."

"Just don't give Daj' an ouch on her heart, or I  _ will  _ mind."

 


	3. Little Bear

As they sat in Discipline cottage, discussing potions and oils for allergy relief, Little Bear climbed stiffly to his feet and plodded over to inspect Pearl. The first she knew of it was when he whiffled through her hair, and she whipped round with reflexes nearly as good as Briar's. She looked Little Bear over in return, and some of the tension went out of her as she offered him a hand to sniff. Little Bear inspected the hand smelling of sugar, spices, and sweet pastries, decided that was quite good enough and planted his head on Pearl's knee in approval, silently demanding to have his ears tickled.

 


	4. Sandry

Sandry approached Pearl with determined strides and a tape measure in her hand. "If you're escorting Daja to the Winter dance, I refuse to have you show her up by looking scruffy."

Pearl backed up. "You're a Duchess. You don't need to waste your family time on me."

"I'm her  _ saati _ ."

"She's a stitch-witch," Daja said mildly. "She makes all of our clothes. It's a way she shows that she cares." She held out a hand.

Pearl took it, her golden fingers almost as bright and warm as the living brass that they wrapped, and Daja felt them trembling. She rubbed her thumb gently across the back of Pearl's hand. Pearl took a deep breath and lifted her arms for the tape measure, although her hand tightened around Daja's.

Sandry watched the silent exchange, cornflower blue eyes bright. "I just want to make sure it  _ fits, _ " she grumbled. 

"Not all of us," Pearl replied, her voice dryer than usual, "have the luxury of liking our body."

Sandry nodded in acknowledgement. "I'll be quick." She lifted the cloth tape measure, and it flew through the air, pulled by Sandry's magic as she scribbled the numbers on a slate. "Would you like a dress, or are you like Daja and prefer leggings and tunic?"

"I've travelled with Traders, but I'm not one of them. I'll take a dress."

 


	5. Tris

One of the first things Tris did when she came home for the holiday was inspect the kitchen. Silver magic gleamed to her eyes, outining crisp and precise spells for protection and preservation. "Nice control," she told Pearl shortly, as the woman lounged on a bench next to Daja.

"Thank you," Pearl replied. "I've worked at it."

"Likewise," Tris snapped, and retreated behind a book.

 


	6. Daja

Daja hammered away at the half made knife. In her mind, half considered thoughts and emotions tumbled over each other. She didn't feel about Pearl the way she had felt about Rizu. If they had been metals... Rizu had been gold, dazzling bright, calling to Daja the way that gold had called her to forges while she was still with her Trader family. Soft, beautiful, moulded easily into a shape, and highly valued. And yet, in the end, only suited to wealth or ornament.

She flipped the blade over to shape the other side. Pearl, on the other hand, was iron. Steely as the knives she cooked with, strong, and stubborn. Valued in different ways, for different things. More effort to work with, but more enduring.

Gold had been Daja's first love. She remembered pulling gold wire for Frostpine as she discovered her magic. But what her hands remembered was the feel of red hot iron lying on them, welcoming her to a life in the forge. It was the iron memory that she had put into her knot of the circle and bound herself tight to the other three. Frostpine's forge was set up for both gold and iron though. Maybe she could do the same with her heart.

She thrust the blade back into the fire to heat and rubbed her thumb over the scar that remained from that knot.

She had wanted to make jewelry for Rizu. To decorate the woman who saw her as beautiful. And - afterwards - when she came home, she had turned to plain nails. She had spent weeks hammering out her grief and confusion in sturdy iron, as if the nails could fasten her broken heart back together as easily as they fastened wood. 

Now, she drew the blade from the fire and began to square off the tang that would fasten the blade to the hilt.

***

Later, she brought the finished chef's knife to Pearl, wrapped in yellow cloth, as a gift for Longest Night.

Pearl's eyes widened as she saw it laid there. "I would tell you that it is a fine day for a conversation," she said softly, "but I have only my heart for a trade gift, and I know that yours is full of your family. Do you have room in there for one more?" She bent and set her own gift beside Daja's. It was a pottery jar filled with tiny onions pickled Trader style. They had been a common food aboard Third Ship Kisubo, but Daja had rarely had them since. Her eyes prickled with tears at the thought Pearl had put into that gift.

She looked up through those tears into the dappled sunlight that was Pearl's eyes and replied just as softly, "I believe that I do." 

 


End file.
